


Get Back to Where You Once Belonged

by celeste9



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dragons, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-28
Updated: 2013-10-28
Packaged: 2017-12-30 19:17:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1022419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celeste9/pseuds/celeste9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Coulson should have been back yesterday. Fantasy!AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	Get Back to Where You Once Belonged

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Trope Bingo, au: fantasy. Title from the Beatles.

The sun was setting, taking what minimal warmth it provided with it. Clint quickened his pace as he trudged through the snow, returning from a hunting excursion. He was glad when he finally set foot back into the cave. Merely getting out of the biting wind made him feel immediately warmer.

He left the rabbits he’d managed to catch (poor, skinny things) on the stone slab that served as their butcher’s block and then went to set down his bow and arrows by his sleeping pallet. Natasha was waving her hand over the fire, setting off sparks that made the fire burn a little bigger, a little brighter. Clint crouched down beside her, warming his fingers.

“No sign of Coulson?” Natasha asked.

Clint shook his head. Coulson should have been back yesterday evening at the latest, and his continued delay was worrisome. No need to point that out to Natasha, though, who knew it as well as he did. “Rabbit for dinner. Gutted them outside, just need to be skinned.”

Natasha pulled out one of her long, sharp knives. “Let me. I’m quicker.”

The rabbits were scrawny but they made a stew of them that wasn’t the worst thing Clint had ever eaten. They ate mostly in silence, while Clint tried not to think of the various fates that Coulson might have met - none of them good. Even disregarding Clint’s personal feelings on the matter, losing him would have been a blow. Losing Coulson meant losing their link to the outside.

The silence was broken by a sudden tremendous gust of wind, a familiar sound that could only have been one thing. Natasha and Clint both grabbed weapons, as their visitor may not be the one they were hoping for.

As they reached the cave’s entrance, Coulson was just climbing down off his dragon’s back. He jumped the last few feet, boots landing softly in the snow, but Clint didn’t miss his wince, nor the stiffness as he moved.

“Stay close beside me, will you?” The dragon, Lola, fretted. “This wind is so strong, you could blow away.”

“I’m not that light,” Coulson said to her, fondness evident in the creasing of his face. His cheeks were wind-chapped and he was bundled up like a small child on his first trip outside.

“Come inside,” Natasha said, stepping closer. “Get out of the cold, both of you. It’s large enough in the front for Lola, too, if you don’t mind a squeeze.”

“I am beginning to feel somewhat chilled,” Lola said, and followed them in. She curled her great body and sank down on the ground, watching Coulson with the attentiveness of a wary mother.

Clint patted her leg. “Have you eaten, Lola? We don’t have much but you’re welcome to it of course.”

As Lola perked up at Clint’s words, Coulson interrupted, saying, “No need. She caught a mountain lion not half an hour back.”

“But it was so very small,” Lola said, sounding about as pitiful as a dragon could. “And we flew a great distance.”

Coulson stroked one gloved hand over Lola’s scales. “Don’t be a pig, dearest, you’ll get fat.”

Lola drew back, her tail flicking from side to side in agitation. “I will not! I’m not f _at._ ”

“Let’s keep it that way, then.”

“We expected you back yesterday,” Clint said, as he, Natasha, and Coulson moved farther inside. “We thought you’d been caught.” It was the nearest to an admission of worry he would get.

“Ran into some trouble on the way,” was all Coulson said. He gazed at Clint’s face, lingering at his eyes. “How are you feeling, Clint?”

Clint glanced away. “Like myself.”

“Good,” Coulson said curtly. “We’re going to need you, both of you.”

“What’s the word on Loki’s movements?” Natasha asked.

“Stationary at the moment, but we don’t expect that to last. He’s still holed up in the tower-- which Stark likes as much as you’d expect-- and amassing his own little army of blue-eyed drones.”

No one looked at Clint. Natasha said, “They haven’t figured out how to counteract it, then?”

Coulson shook his head. “Barton remains our only success story.”

“Hooray for me,” Clint muttered. He didn’t consider the deaths on his hands any sort of success.

“As such,” Coulson went on, “Sir Nicholas would like you to accompany me on my return.”

“He knows?”

“An easy guess, particularly with Natasha’s convenient absence coinciding with your disappearance.”

“I won’t bring Clint back just for him to be locked up,” Natasha said, her eyes glinting.

“He won’t be, you have my promise on that. They only want to talk to him, and you.”

Clint snorted. “So we can tell them what? Natasha punched me in the head and when I woke up, I wasn’t Loki’s slave anymore?”

Coulson remained as impassive as ever, unmoved by Clint’s dramatics. “So you can tell them how you got Loki out of your head. So you can tell them how you were fighting it.”

“I wasn’t fucking fighting it. If I’d been fighting it, there’d be a hell of a lot less dead people.”

“If you hadn’t been fighting it, you wouldn’t have prevented the loss of life that you did.” Coulson moved closer to Clint, standing in his space. “I know you, Clint, and you were fighting. You knew exactly how to take us down, utterly and completely, and you didn’t. You did the minimum required to comply with Loki’s demands. You avoided kill shots.”

“Don’t fucking make excuses for me,” Clint said, the familiar anger and rage and guilt boiling under the surface. “Especially not you.” Not when Loki had stabbed him through the chest while Clint had been... compromised.

“You know better than that,” Coulson said. “I don’t make excuses for anyone.”

Natasha had been standing back, watching them silently and intently, but now she insinuated herself between them. “This is idiotic. Clint is determined to take on Loki’s sins as his own and fighting won’t change that, not until he wants to. Coulson, you must be hungry. I’m guessing Lola didn’t share her mountain lion with you. Have some stew.” She proceeded to rather forcibly shove a bowl, warmed in her hands, at Coulson.

He blinked at her and then started eating, presumably to get Natasha to stop staring at him. She nodded in satisfaction and they both sat down by the fire.

Clint watched them and then walked to his little sleeping pallet, dropping down in a huff. He knew they wanted to help him but the simple fact was, neither of them had had someone in their head, telling them what to do. Neither of them had to live with knowing they’d just been a tool to use, a weapon used against their own side. Neither of them had a list of bodies to their credit that they had never meant to kill.

He could remember everything he’d done. He’d been awake the whole time. He just hadn’t been able to stop it.

Natasha and Coulson were talking quietly amongst themselves, but eventually Coulson put his bowl aside. He raised his voice, saying, “I’m going to check on Lola.” He pushed himself up to his feet.

“You’re an asshole,” Natasha said when Coulson had disappeared into the distance.

“Excuse me?” Clint said.

“You can’t hide here forever and I won’t help you do it. It isn’t helping; you won’t be able to move on from what was done to you until you deal with it, and you refuse to. I’m going back with Coulson. You should, too.”

“Whatever,” Clint said, because he was a model of maturity, and got to his feet. He followed after Coulson.

Near the entrance to the cave, Coulson was leaning against Lola and murmuring words to her, softly stroking her scaly skin.

Lola turned her large eyes to Clint as he approached. “Hello, Clint.”

Coulson turned as well. “Did you need me for something?”

Clint scuffed the toe of one boot against the ground. “Will you sleep tonight with Lola, or with us?”

Before Coulson could say anything, Lola said, “You may all sleep by me, if you wish. It would please Phil, I know, he did miss you so.”

“Did he?” Clint asked, smirking.

“We’ve discussed this, Lola,” Coulson said, the flush in his cheeks perhaps not entirely from the cold. “Some things are not meant to be shared with all and sundry.”

“I didn’t share them with all and sundry, just Clint. And besides, he’s clearly missed you as well, since he keeps following you around like a lost puppy.”

Clint crossed his arms over his chest and looked away. “That is not what I’m doing.”

“At least Lola isn’t choosy when it comes to speaking her mind,” Coulson said, sounding amused. “Equal opportunity for embarrassment all around.”

“I don’t know why you humans make such a fuss,” Lola said, heaving a huge breath. “None of you ever say what you mean.”

“Maybe we should strive to be more like dragons,” Coulson said, rubbing Lola’s snout.

Lola grumbled deep in her chest, almost like a large cat purring. “You could do much worse.”

“Evidently.” Coulson looked happy, the lines around his eyes softening. You couldn’t even tell that Loki had nearly killed him, that he was alive only thanks to the effort of the finest mages they had. Not until he moved.

He had sworn he wouldn’t do this, but Clint found himself reaching out to touch his hand to Coulson’s chest, right where the spear had gone through. “You shouldn’t be helping us.”

Coulson’s expression tightened immediately. “What would you have me do? Abandon you?”

“Take care of yourself for once.”

“Please,” Coulson said, his lips quirking upwards. “If I were looking to be hounded, I have Lola to do it.”

Lola hissed, staring in accusation at Coulson. “Someone has to, as you take such poor care of yourself!”

Clint laughed. “I always knew I liked you, Lola.”

“Well, I am extremely likeable,” she said, preening a little. “And I approve of your concern for Phil, though you could certainly learn to watch yourself better. You really have no room to be passing judgment.”

Dismayed, Clint glanced to the now chuckling Coulson. “No, she isn’t choosy at all, is she?”

“Not in the slightest.” Coulson grew serious, rubbing his hands briskly together. “Natasha wants to go back with me. Clint, I... I won’t force you. I understand that what you went through was--”

“It’s okay,” Clint interrupted, as much for Coulson as for himself. “Tasha’s right, as always. You both are. I’ve been here too long already. I want to help, if you think I can.”

“I know you can,” Coulson said, lightly touching Clint’s elbow.

“Tomorrow, then,” Clint said, and looked to the dark sky beyond the cave.

**_End_ **


End file.
